Joel Fleischman is a nebbishy Jewish doctor from New York City, and a fresh faced medical school graduate. He's also about to begin the four year service contract he promised to the state of Alaska, who financed his education. But he just happened to forget reading some of the stipulations in his contract, that has assigned him to the small post of Cicely, Alaska. A town of 215 people that welcomes it's newest resident with open arms. As he contends with the daily lives and rituals of these all too normal and trusting folk, Joel just might realise that Cicely's quieter ways are probably more civilised than the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. Made up of Cicely's various residents, patients and friends of Fleischman include wealthy former astronaut Maurice Minnifield; feisty pilot Maggie O'Connell; mayor and saloon owner Holling Vincoeur; his sweet, naive waitress girlfriend Shelly Tambo (who's old enough to be his daughter); intellectual ex-con and disc jockey Chris Stevens; Joel's far wiser and very quiet receptionist Marilyn Whirlwind; kindly store owner Ruth-Anne Miller, and avid film buff Ed Chigliak. Enjoy once again, now fully restored and in hi-definition, all 110 episodes, over 6 seasons, with all the original music as you remember it.

I have the R1 DVDs (in the complete series satchel, which is rather neat) as they had subtitles and most of the R2s didn't. I'd happily upgrade to BD if subs were included, but I'm guessing they won't be, as Fabulous usually find the cost prohibitive.

F**k me! I was going to import the German DVD set, just for the original music. This is fantastic news!

I got to reveal the news exclusively back in the first week of December. Also coming this year are 30 Rock, Buck Rogers, Columbo, Murder She Wrote, and The Rockford Files. A little more info and quite a bit more discussion in the Fabulous Classic TV thread.

So excited, the film elements even make the DVDs look decent. I've quoted my post from another thread about my worries about season 6 in the spoiler tags below. Also, is the general consensus that this will most likely be region locked?

[Show spoiler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harpolini

Season one is an example of the best that DVD can look. Season 3 and on look like they slightly softened the image to help with compression as they often crammed 5 episodes per disc. Season 6 suffers from a interlacing, contrast boosting and an image even softer that other seasons.

Season one US release(looks great!)

Season six US release(Notice the Digital Magic logo which was added to the end credits which I presume is the new digital editing system they used for this season)
The only things that looks better is the text clarity on the credits.

Ugh, why are they doing this! They have more than enough discs to allow for a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track! I know some won't care, but to me lossless audio is one of the basic components of a Blu-ray release, and I try to avoid buying releases with lossy audio at all costs, if possible.

Thanks, Sam, my order is cancelled. I'll wait to see what comes out in other regions before I spend money on a release without lossless audio.

Probably a silly question to some but whats the difference in the audio being lossy or not ?

I know some people cannot, but most of the time, I actually can tell the difference between lossless audio, and when that audio is further compressed to lossy Dolby Digital. But even if I couldn't, the fact is that like 1080p video, lossless audio is a feature of Blu-ray, and pretty much a standard one, at that. I am not one of those people who believes that certain types of films and programs don't benefit from lossless, either, as I appreciate even small improvements. With rare exceptions, companies should always provide lossless audio encoding, in order to make the most of what the format can offer, and then we can all compare it to the lossy tracks on the DVD editions, if necessary. Consider how upsetting most people would find it if Fabulous encoded the video at 1080/50i, or worse, 720p. Either way is arguably a valid presentation, because it's still HD, for one thing. But it isn't the Blu-ray standard for filmed content from the States--that standard is 1080p24. This video standard is rarely ignored, but on the audio side, we still see releases that cut corners and go for lossy audio, which shows the double-standard of the format.

And I think especially on a release where the music is important, and a major selling point, it is especially galling that Fabulous aren't providing Blu-ray-quality audio (that is, lossless 2.0, in this case), on their Blu-ray release.

I really hope they reconsider, as I have no problem with pricing, but absolutely refuse to buy any of these TV series releases without the audio being in lossless.

I don't think my concert battered eardrums would notice the difference much if I'm honest.

I'm just happy that there are no longer any music substitutions as has often been the case in the past with American TV shows. (WKRP being rather a point as all the jokes were built around musical puns and even the Sopranos used 'cover' versions of songs)

Films I would like to see on Blu Ray (In no particular order) : The Phantom Lady (1944) Local Hero (1983) The 7 Faces of Dr Lao (1964) Martin (1977) Straight To Hell (1980) Escape From Sobibor (1987) The Phantom Tollbooth (1970) The Amazing Mr. Blunden (1972)